I want to explain this to managers or manager candidates here so that you don’t face the same issue. Because in my opinion, this is one of the worst things you can do as a manager: alienating a high-performing, overachieving employee.
I have been working at the same company for more than 5 years and I am a high performer. Every year, except one, I have received a “Exceeds Expectations” rating. In our system, only one person per domain gets this rating, and many people never receive it even once.
Two years ago, they asked me to work as a Lead on a newly started project. My official title in the company and on billing is Senior, but in the project I am referred to as Lead everywhere. At first, I didn’t object because I thought it would help my promotion and I took it positively. There were two junior developers with me. I trained both of them and also achieved results in the project that were beyond expectations. Now we are a team of 16. One of the largest project in our Company. Out of those 16 people, I directly interviewed and was responsible for hiring 11 of them. Other 5 are not from our Domains, they are either Testers or Product Owners.
We do not have a real manager in our department, only an acting one. When the team grew from 3 to 14 people, they did not hire a manager and told me they were considering me for that role in the future. During these two years, we even received innovation awards from the customer.
I entered the promotion process, completed my responsibilities, but I have been waiting for almost a year or more. We are one of the most profitable projects in the company, but due to the contract with the customer, they cannot increase the billing rate for me. Because of this, they said they cannot give me the promotion, since the customer would not cover the small rate increase (maximum 5–10%).
However, someone from the same department, a low performer working on another project(I know his performance reviews), became a Lead before me simply because their customer covered the rate increase.
The customer is satisfied with me, my company is satisfied with me, and even the CFO knows and approves that I am considered for a managerial role. Since we do not have a department manager, I am still handling offers, mentoring, and development activities. In other words, I am creating value for the company in every aspect, increasing output, and growing the project. But when it comes to promotion, the company is not willing to cover even a small salary increase.
During this time, they kept delaying me and did not communicate clearly. At this point, I no longer see a future in this company, and I will leave if I receive an offer that meets my salary expectations.
If you are a manager or a manager candidate, my advice is: do not do this. Communicate openly, and do not risk losing someone who is important for your company’s future over a small percentage increase. Because when I leave, they will not be able to replace me easily. Even if they do, they will have to pay significantly more to find someone with a similar skill set.